Changed some bios settings on my ECS K7S5A motherboard. When I continued with the boot-up I received the above message. I tried resetting the BIOS back but system will not reboot.
I'm running windows XP and have tried repairing XP from the disk but it does not resolve the problem. I had the same problem when i built the system abd could only resolve the problem by clean installing XP.
I have also tried using the recovery console to repair the boot record again no joy.
Is a clean rebuild the only way to resolve this ?.
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I manually changed the bios and typed the specifications correctly. This still would not reboot the system. Could the problem be with windows xp.
I have also tried to reset the bios and on reboot got two cmos battery errors
CMOS battery low
CMOS memory size wrong
Is this an indication that the motherboard is dodgy?
Yep. Replacing the battery, which is inexpensive should help, and resetting the BIOS should fix your problem. It's a good idea to write down the original BIOS settings before you change anything, and also make a note of the new setting. Make only one change at a time so any mistakes are easy to correct.
If your description of the sequence of when the problem occurred is accurate, It probably isn't an XP problem.
After replacing the CMOS battery, does it still say CMOS MEMORY SIZE WRONG?
If it does, you may have a faulty BIOS chip. The only way to replace it is to buy another motherboard if the chip was soldered to it.
Now, assuming your BIOS is not faulty, do the following:
1. Check the drive's ribbon cable for loose connections. Replace it when there are signs of breakage or cuts especially near the connectors.
Also, check the power connector just in case it is loosely connected to the drive.
If you still get the same result...
2. Boot from any MS-DOS CD or floppy disk.
Clean reinstall Windows XP. In order to do this, first, remove the existing partition by running DEBUG. Second, run FDISK to re-partition the drive. Third, format the drive using FORMAT. Last, install the Windows XP operating system.
If it is impossible to clean re-install XP on your machine. Then, remove the hard drive and try it out on a different PC.
If the [different] PC boots up to Windows XP, remove and install the drive back to your PC. Have the BIOS 'auto-detect' it. If it fails to boot, then your motherboard/BIOS is defective.
If the [different] PC is having a similar problem with the drive, then it could be your drive's controller chip that is faulty. =)
HI everybody.
-----
This problem it is simple...
and dificult at the same time. Let's take it step by step.
1)
Restore the MBR.
You must repair the MBR if it becomes corrupted and you can no longer access any volumes on that disk. You can use several tools to repair the MBR. Which tool you choose depends on whether the partition table is also damaged and whether you can start Windows XP Professional.
2)
Replace the Boot sector.
If Ntldr is damaged or missing, or if the boot sector is corrupted.
Contact me here www.bicester-computers.com
Best regards,
L.V.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: galloglassPosted on 2003-02-11 at 16:38:09ID: 7930261
You've probably reset the BIOS hard drive settings accidentally rendering your drive unrecognizable to the BIOS.
Set the BIOS hard drive settings to 'auto-detect' your hard drive. Or, you can type in the specification of your drive manually. =)